How Long Does a DUI Stay on Your Record?

How long a DUI stays on your record depends on which record you mean. As of October 2026, it stays on your criminal record until sealed, expunged, or pardoned, and only 16 states and D.C. give you an ordinary way to clear one. On your driving record, nine states keep it for life, and about half publish no end date.

Ask "How long does a DUI stay on your record?" and someone may tell you it falls off after seven years. That holds for North Dakota's driving record and almost nowhere else. In Arizona, Michigan, and Washington, seven years is the repeat-offense window, the period in which an old DUI makes a new charge a second offense, and the conviction itself can outlast that window. Elsewhere, seven years is how far back some driving-record printouts go, or how long 11 states let a background report list an old conviction. Your DMV, the court that convicted you, and your insurer can each give you a different answer, all of them correct, because each is reading a different one of the five clocks below.

The first three clocks, the driving record, the lookback, and the criminal record, get every state's dates in the two tables under the next heading. The background report and the insurance filing get their own sections further down. Of the five, the criminal record is the hardest to move, since most states give you no ordinary way to clear it, and the insurance filing is the easiest to outlast. The dates apply the same way whether your state calls the offense DUI, DWI, OWI, or OVI.

How long does a DUI stay on your record in each state?

For a single DUI, the three clocks in the state tables below, the driving record, the repeat-offense lookback, and the criminal record, can end years apart. In New York, a misdemeanor DWI qualifies for sealing three years after sentence or release, yet the DMV's abstract shows it for 15.

The lookback sits in between, since a New York DWI counts toward a felony DWI charge for 10 years. A driver who applies to be relicensed after a revocation still gets a review of the whole lifetime record. So in New York, the DMV's memory outlasts both of the shorter clocks.

Where a state publishes no end date, assume the DUI is still on file. The state has not said when it goes, and a short printout that leaves it off proves nothing either way.

Driving record and repeat-offense clocks

† This answer rests on a secondary source or an older statute copy, here and in the next table, so confirm it with the state before you rely on it.

Clearing the criminal record

Read the first column before the wait column, because it tells you whether waiting can help at all. A Yes means a petition, a motion, or an automatic law can clear an adult misdemeanor DUI conviction, while a No means no court route opens however long you wait. Limited means a narrower remedy, or one that only some drivers qualify for. Unclear means the official sources leave the answer open, so confirm those rows with the court. The table covers a misdemeanor DUI, so for a felony DUI, check your state's felony rules in our guide to how long a felony stays on your record.

In practice, a Limited row means you may have a route, but only if you fit its terms. Colorado's sealing law excludes a DUI, yet a misdemeanor DUI becomes eligible for sealing if the district attorney consents. Without that consent, a judge must make three findings by clear and convincing evidence: that your need for sealing is significant and substantial, that enough time has passed that you are no longer a threat to public safety, and that the public no longer needs the record disclosed to protect or inform it. The statute's waiting periods do not name a traffic misdemeanor, which is why the Colorado wait reads Unclear. Before you file, ask the district attorney's office whether it will consent.

One Ohio OVI, 14 years later

Take a driver with a single Ohio OVI from 2012, a first offense, and a clean record before and since. Fourteen years on, of the three clocks in the state tables, one has run out, one has no published end, and one will not stop without a governor's pardon.

The driving record has not let go. The BMV publishes no end date, and its driving record history lists every conviction still in its database, so nothing published takes the OVI off a full-history copy. Only the shorter copies have moved on. The three-year abstract and the two-year unofficial copy stopped showing it years ago. That is exactly how a driver who checks only those can come away thinking it is gone.

The lookback is the clock that has run out. Ohio counts a prior for 10 years, so the 2012 conviction now sits outside the window. If this driver were charged again in 2026, the old OVI would not raise the penalty on the new charge.

The criminal record is where Ohio is hardest. Its sealing law excludes every conviction under the traffic code, OVI included, so no amount of waiting makes this one sealable. What remains is a governor's pardon, which since September 2021 can carry a condition that the records be sealed. For this driver, that application is the only way to get the court record sealed. Until then, the 2012 OVI can still appear on a background check, because no federal rule limits how long a conviction can be reported.

How long does a DUI stay on your driving record?

Nine states keep a DUI on your driving record for life, and about half publish no end date, so in most states you should not expect it to age off. Only five clearly keep one for 12 years or less, from North Dakota's seven to Iowa's 12. That leaves very few states where a five-to-10-year answer fits.

If a three- or seven-year copy no longer lists your DUI, that tells you how many years the printout covers and nothing about what the state still keeps.

In the life states, years of clean driving shorten nothing, because the rule itself tells the agency to keep the entry. Minnesota and Washington put it in statute, so alcohol-related records there are kept permanently. Oregon leaves a little room, since a DUI there may remain on the record permanently, but that still leaves you no date to count toward.

Kentucky is one of the few states with a fixed date, and it just got longer. A 2026 law doubled the period from five years to 10, effective July 15, 2026. The 10 years apply only if you have never held or applied for a commercial license. If you have, Kentucky keeps the conviction records indefinitely. Connecticut draws the same line, keeping a DUI for 10 years without a commercial license and for 55 years with one. Virginia keeps an alcohol conviction permanently when the driver was in a commercial vehicle.

Nebraska and New Mexico keep a DUI for 55 years and Florida for 75, which for most drivers works out the same as permanent.

Be wary of a state that tells you only how long a DUI is shown, because that can differ from how long it is kept. California and Louisiana show a DUI for 10 years and New York for 15, and Louisiana shows it longer while requirements are unmet. None of the three publishes how long it keeps the entry, so a DUI there can stop appearing on the printout without being gone.

Several other rows answer only part of the question, Maryland and Arizona among them. Maryland purges the public record but keeps any entry it needs to sentence a repeat offender. Arizona contradicts itself, since one ADOT page gives five years and another charges points against a "permanent driving record". So ask the MVD which one applies to your record before you count on five years.

How long a DUI affects your insurance

What your insurer sees is usually a printout covering only a few years of the state's full file, and that gap works in your favor. Many states sell or release a driving record covering only three to seven years while keeping a longer one. Florida shows the gap plainly, because its 3-year and 7-year records list only dispositions inside those windows while alcohol-related entries carry a 75-year retention period. A Florida DUI therefore drops off the three-year printout first and the seven-year one next, decades before the state lets it go.

Some of those short records exist for insurers in particular, such as Alaska's and Arkansas's Insurance Records covering three to five years. Nevada splits it three ways, reporting a DUI to insurance companies for three years, to the DMVs of other states for 10, and to police and courts indefinitely. As a result, a DUI can fall out of an insurance quote long before it leaves the state's files.

A required insurance filing, the fifth clock, usually has the clearest end date. Your insurer files it with the DMV as proof that you carry coverage, and state law sets how long it must stay in place. Texas requires an SR-22 for two years from conviction and Georgia for three, while California requires one for three years once you fully reinstate.

Florida asks for more. Its FR-44 runs for three years from the date your license is reinstated and proves higher liability coverage of $100,000/$300,000 for bodily injury and $50,000 for property damage. Whichever filing you carry, note the date it ends, since from then on how long a DUI keeps raising your premium is mostly up to your insurer.

A few states set that limit in statute, North Carolina among them. Its insurance plan assigns a DWI 12 points. For a conviction on or after July 1, 2025, it fixes the surcharge at five policy years, no more and no fewer, so you know when it ends. California works against you for longer, because a DUI conviction in the past 10 years bars you from the state's Good Driver Discount for years after the SR-22 ends.

Once your filing has ended and the DUI has dropped off the printouts insurers receive, quotes from other insurers will show whether your price has caught up.

Does a DUI stay on your record forever?

Most states offer no ordinary way to clear a DUI conviction, or only a narrow one, so it can stay on your criminal record for good. In the nine states that keep a DUI on the driving record for life, that record never clears either. Many states also let a prior DUI raise the penalty on a new charge with no time limit.

That last clock is the lookback, which is how far back a court reaches when it decides whether a new DUI charge is a first offense or a repeat. A DUI lookback lasts 10 years in most states, though it runs from five years in Mississippi to no limit at all in Texas. It matters only if you are charged again, so a lookback date says nothing about when a DUI leaves your driving or criminal record.

Nevada and Virginia show how far apart the two dates can be. Nevada counts a prior for seven years, yet its DMV keeps convictions on the full record "for the rest of your life". Virginia counts a prior for 10 years and keeps the conviction for 11.

Where the window has an end, a prior that falls outside it no longer raises the penalty on a new charge. The Ohio driver above is in that position. Where it has none, a prior never stops counting. A DUI from your twenties can still raise the penalty decades later, and in Texas it can also count toward a felony charge. Colorado counts any prior conviction that exists when you are sentenced, and Kansas counts every DUI since July 1, 2001.

In many other states the time limit disappears only at a later offense or after a felony. In Wisconsin, for example, a second OWI looks back 10 years, but from a third the lookback is lifetime. In Ohio and Washington the limit goes once you have a felony DUI.

In Iowa, the window and the driving record end on the same day, because the state deletes a non-commercial OWI from the operating record 12 years after conviction. From then on, Iowa Code 321J.2 bars counting the deleted conviction as a previous offense.

If you worked out a date from an older chart, check it again, because each of these recent changes made a period longer. Kentucky doubled its driving-record period. Rhode Island raised its lookback from five to 10 years for violations from July 1, 2025. Washington raised its felony lookback from 10 to 15 years on January 1, 2026.

Can a DUI be expunged?

In 16 states and D.C., you can expunge, seal, or otherwise clear an adult misdemeanor DUI conviction without a pardon. Nineteen states offer no court route, four of them leaving only a pardon, and the rest allow only narrow relief such as a first-offense set-aside. So where you were convicted matters far more than how long ago.

In the states with no DUI expungement route, waiting will never open one, because the law shuts out a DUI by what it is. Most of these laws either name DUI or exclude traffic offenses as a class. North Carolina names impaired driving outright as ineligible for expunction. Ohio and New Jersey exclude every conviction under the traffic code from sealing, and DUI sits in the traffic code in both.

Florida gets the same result without naming DUI. It seals a case only when the court withheld a finding of guilt. Florida courts may not withhold one for a DUI, so a Florida DUI conviction can never pass that test.

Even where no court can clear the conviction, some of what follows a DUI can still change. In Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, and Ohio, a pardon is the one route left. In Georgia it comes from the State Board of Pardons and Paroles rather than the governor. Wherever the lookback has an end, the old DUI stops counting toward a repeat-offense charge once that window passes. In Washington, a prior counts for seven years from arrest to arrest, and for 15 toward a felony charge. And if a report gets your case wrong, you can still dispute it at no cost.

Washington's deferred prosecution helps only while a charge is still pending, because you petition before trial and agree to treatment. The court then dismisses the charge three years after treatment ends, though not until five years after the order. Even then, the record stays on your driving file permanently and still counts as a prior offense if you are charged again.

Pennsylvania's ARD is a pretrial diversion program for first-time DUI offenders, and finishing it does not give you a conviction. Because of that, the state Supreme Court held on May 30, 2025, in Commonwealth v. Shifflett, that an ARD cannot be used to enhance the sentence for a later DUI. The legislature answered with Act 58, effective December 22, 2025. It created a separate charge, DUI following diversion, for a new DUI within 10 years of completing ARD.

Act 58 also tells PennDOT when to erase its own record of your ARD, which is 12 years after the court reports that you completed it, although PennDOT's DUI page still says 10. PennDOT is not required to erase it if you were a commercial driver at the time of the offense. It also reaches only PennDOT's record, so the separate ARD list that state law keeps for grading later offenses is left as it was.

Several of the narrow routes open only once, for a first offender, so make sure you still count as one before you plan around them. Since February 2022, Michigan has let you apply once to set aside a first-offense OWI five years after the sentence or probation ends. The route applies only if no one was hurt, and it never happens automatically. Mississippi and Missouri also allow a single first-offense clearing, after five and 10 years. Mississippi keeps a permanent confidential registry of each one, so a second clearing is never available.

Don't go by the name of the order, because the same word does different things from one state to the next:

• Expungement: Indiana's order reaches the files of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, while in Louisiana expungement "does not result in the destruction of the record" and leaves it usable as a predicate offense.
• Sealing: Massachusetts can seal a misdemeanor OUI after three years, yet a judge can still use the sealed record when sentencing you for a later offense.
• Set-aside or dismissal: California's courts say "true expungement does not exist in California". A PC 1203.4 dismissal is discretionary for a DUI and leaves a conviction that can still be pleaded and proved in a later case.
• Nondisclosure: Texas hides an eligible first-offense DWI from the public, although police, courts, and other criminal-justice agencies still see it. You qualify only if your DWI was not the 0.15-or-higher grade and you have no earlier conviction other than a fine-only traffic ticket. A court cannot grant it if the prosecutor shows the DWI caused an accident involving another person, a passenger included.

In Texas, the wait depends on how the case ended, and an ignition interlock shortens it either way. After probation that was never revoked, the wait runs from the day probation ended. It is two years if you drove with an interlock for at least six months and five otherwise. Without probation, it runs from the end of your sentence, three years with an interlock and five without. The 2017 law also covers DWIs committed before it took effect, so an older first offense can still qualify.

Connecticut and New York are the only states that name DUI in an automatic clearing law. That spares you the paperwork there, since an eligible record clears without a filing. For offenses committed from January 1, 2000, Connecticut erases an eligible DUI 10 years after the most recent conviction, and another DUI conviction within those 10 years blocks the erasure. New York's Clean Slate law has been in effect since November 16, 2024. It seals a misdemeanor DWI after three years and a felony DWI after eight, although the DMV's copy is not sealed with it.

New York's courts also have until November 16, 2027 to finish setting up that sealing, so if your eligible record still shows today, that deadline may be the reason. Once the work is done, a New York DWI can leave the criminal record years before it leaves the DMV abstract. California's automatic dismissal law carries no DUI exclusion, but a dismissed DUI still counts as a prior and stays on the DMV record.

Pennsylvania may clear some DUIs without a filing too. Its Clean Slate law seals misdemeanors carrying a maximum of two years or less after seven conviction-free years. Read as written, that takes in a first or second general-impairment DUI.

Don't assume a newer clean-slate law in your own state covers DUI, though. Delaware's and Minnesota's took effect in August 2024 and January 2025, Utah revised its own in May 2025, and all three leave DUI out.

A cleared DUI usually keeps counting if you are charged again, so clearing it protects the record people can see rather than your standing in a later case. A sealed record in Arizona can still be used to enhance a later sentence, and Vermont lets a sealed DUI serve as a predicate offense.

In at least eight states, a cleared court case leaves the driving record exactly as it was, because the DMV keeps its copy under separate rules. In Michigan a judge cannot order a reportable violation expunged at all, and a Wisconsin expungement never reaches Department of Transportation records. Indiana is the exception, because its expungement order also covers the Bureau of Motor Vehicles' files.

How to get a DUI expunged

To get a DUI expunged or sealed in a state that has a route, you usually take four steps:

1. Find your state's row in the clearing table and check which event starts your wait. An Indiana misdemeanor waits five years from conviction, an Arizona misdemeanor three years after the sentence ends, and a first Kansas DUI five years after the sentence is satisfied. Check the grade too, since Arizona's extreme DUI, for an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more, is still a class 1 misdemeanor with the three-year wait, while an aggravated DUI is a felony that waits five.
2. Ask the clerk of the court that convicted you for your case record, so you know the exact charge, the sentence dates, and whether anything has already been sealed or set aside.
3. File the petition or motion in that court. Connecticut and New York, and possibly Pennsylvania, are the exceptions, because eligible records there clear with no filing.
4. Once you have the order, check your driving record and your report file, because a court order may not reach the DMV's copy.

When you call the clerk in step two, ask one more question before you file: will the order you are applying for reach the DMV's copy of the record, or only the court's? A misdemeanor other than a DUI often follows different rules, which our guide to how long a misdemeanor stays on your record covers separately.

Does a DUI show up on a background check?

Federal law sets no time limit on reporting a conviction, so a DUI conviction can show up on a background check for as long as the court or DMV record exists. An arrest that never led to a conviction generally ages off a report after seven years, and 11 states cap conviction reporting at seven years.

A court records search or a driving record check can find a DUI, so pull these three records yourself to see what such a check would turn up:

• Your driving record: ask your DMV for the full-history or complete record, because a 3- to 7-year printout can leave out a DUI the state still keeps.
• Your court case: the clerk of the court that convicted you can confirm whether the case was sealed, set aside, or expunged.
• Your report file: federal law lets you ask any consumer reporting agency for everything in its file on you. If you dispute an item, such as a sealed DUI that still appears, the agency must reinvestigate free of charge, normally within 30 days.

The federal rule comes down to one carve-out in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA. Its seven-year limit on adverse information covers everything "other than records of convictions of crimes", which is why a conviction has no federal time limit at all. The seven-year limit on arrests also lifts for high-value reports, such as one for credit or life insurance of $150,000 or more, or for a job paying $75,000 a year or more. Since a conviction has no federal limit anyway, that exception matters mostly if your DUI charge was dismissed. Our guide to what shows up on a background check covers what else a report can hold beyond criminal and driving records.

California, New York, and Texas are among the states that go further than federal law. They stop a report from listing a conviction more than seven years old, usually counted from disposition, release, or parole. Most of these states lift that cap when the credit, insurance, or salary involved passes a set dollar amount, much as federal law does for arrests. Between the caps and their exceptions, the same old DUI can be left off one report and listed on another.

In Washington, for example, the cap lifts for credit or life insurance of $50,000 or more and for a yearly salary of $20,000 or more. Montana and New Mexico list no exception at all, and our felony guide sets out each state's thresholds. These caps bind only what a consumer reporting agency may put in a report, so your DMV can keep showing a DUI that a covered report has to leave out.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a DWI stay on your record?

A DWI stays on your record as long as a DUI would in your state, for example 15 years on New York's driving abstract and indefinitely on Texas's driver record. DWI is what 11 states, including Texas, New York, and North Carolina, call the main drunk-driving offense. Texas also counts a prior toward a felony with no time limit and, short of a pardon, can hide only a first offense from the public, through nondisclosure.

How long does a DUI stay on your insurance?

How long a DUI raises your premium is mostly your insurer's call, and what it sees is usually a printout covering only a few years of your record. Nevada reports a DUI to insurance companies for three years. A required SR-22 or FR-44 filing runs two to three years or more in Texas, Georgia, California, and Florida, and North Carolina fixes a DWI surcharge at five policy years for convictions since July 1, 2025.

Does a DUI fall off your record after 7 years?

A DUI conviction does not fall off after seven years under federal law, because the federal seven-year limit on background reports covers arrests and other records without a conviction, not a conviction itself. North Dakota is the one state whose official FAQ says alcohol violations stay on the driving record for seven years. Elsewhere, the figure comes from seven-year driving-record printouts, seven-year repeat-offense windows in states such as Arizona, Michigan, and Washington, and 11 state caps on reporting convictions.

Can a DUI be removed from your driving record?

A DUI comes off your driving record in only a few states, and there it ages off after a set period. Iowa deletes a non-commercial OWI 12 years after conviction, and Kentucky's period ends after 10 years for a driver who has never held or applied for a commercial license. A court order often does not reach the DMV's copy either, although an Indiana expungement order does cover the files of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

Does a dismissed or reduced DUI stay on your record?

A dismissed DUI can still leave an arrest record, although a consumer report can generally include it for only seven years from entry. Alabama, which bars expunging a DUI conviction, lets a dismissed charge be expunged. A reduced charge can still count against you. California treats a "wet reckless" plea as a prior offense when the prosecutor states alcohol was involved, and Iowa counts a deferred judgment for OWI as a previous offense.

Does a DUI follow you to another state?

A DUI follows you across state lines in two ways. Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, and New Mexico count an out-of-state conviction as a prior if you are charged there, and Mississippi counts one within five years. Your home state also hears about it. Under the Driver License Compact, which PennDOT describes as 46 member states, members report traffic convictions to the driver's home state, and the National Driver Register points a licensing state to the state that holds your record.

Check every DUI record before you count down

A DUI ends on a different date on each record, so the date you were given answers for only one of them. Order the full-history record from your DMV, since a three- or seven-year printout can leave the DUI off. Ask the clerk of the court that convicted you whether the case has been sealed, set aside, or expunged, and request your file from any consumer reporting agency. Do all three before you file a petition, dispute a report, or shop for a new insurance quote.

About this guide

Authenticate sells identity and record checks to businesses, and wrote this page for the person whose record it is. Every state's dates come from its DUI statute, its DMV or court record pages, and its sealing law, with the Collateral Consequences Resource Center filling gaps. All 51 jurisdictions were checked on October 30, 2026. A † marks a row that rests on a secondary source or an older statute copy, such as Pennsylvania's Clean Slate reading, which Community Legal Services of Philadelphia shares although we found no agency confirming it in practice. Two recent laws were not reviewed in detail: Vermont's 2025 change to its lookback statute and Pennsylvania's Act 36 of 2026, which amends the state's prior-offense section and takes effect 16 months after its July 20, 2026 date. Nothing here is legal advice, and LawHelp.org can point you to nonprofit legal aid in your state.

If you run record checks for a business rather than reading your own, Authenticate shows what a state or court record held on the day the check ran. Authenticate is not a consumer reporting agency, and its data may not be used as a factor in a consumer's eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, or any other purpose covered by the FCRA.

Related resources

• How long does a felony stay on your record
• What shows up on a background check
• How long does a background check take